Tragic Hearts: Chapter Two
by Cassandra Grey
Summary: Second chapter of Tragic Hearts. Pan battles with his inner tormoils. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

_Moanna_.

Running and jumping through the gardens of the Underworld she went, faeries tumbling along and laughing in their own raspy high-pitched way. They followed their princess, their friend. Specks of golden pollen shimmered on her bronze skin as her dark curls bounced behind her.

She is going to see her oldest friend, the Faun. No one else is more trusted, or more dear to Moanna. Ever since their first meeting, she has always felt drawn to him. She found the tingle of old magic so alluring, the smell it left on your skin and the biting coppery taste left standing in your mouth. When she was still _Ofelia_, the Faun's magic had been faint and distant, but now back within the boundaries of its original realm, the effect was mesmerizing and more potent than any drug.

Also, the Faun's appearance was more handsome and vibrant in his natural habitat. Even though he had grown younger toward the swelling of the full moon those many years ago, it still did not compare to his new rejuvenated self. In the place of his wispy white locks were golden coils of hair. His eyes were as bright as sapphires in the night, and as piercing as daggers. Moanna loved his eyes the most, especially the feeling of him seeing straight into her soul. Even his stature and posture had been transformed. Instead of being bent and gnarled like a willow, he now stood tall and strong. So many different muscles could be seen while he moved that sometimes the princess wondered if there were really gears and machinery underneath. However, a simple glimpse into his hypnotic blue eyes dismissed all doubts of nonexistence.

Running, and now panting, Moanna dove through the untamable rose bushes that hid the Faun's cavern home. Inside, the air was electrified with the taint of his magic. Distant drips from shadow-hidden stalactites echoed along with the revered step of her boot. Any unnecessarily loud noise seemed to be a crime among these silent walls so she tried her very best to pay them their respect.

Once through the darkened corridor, the cave swelled into a vast cavern filled with warm honeyed firelight. In the very center of the room, lounged on a bed of roses, the Faun played a familiar tune on his pan flute made of gold.

Moanna walked in time to the music, pausing to sway and dance a little as she hummed along with the melody. Upon her arrival, the Faun's eyes flashed like lightening toward her own black eyes. Gracefully he stood, still playing, but now more vigorously. He slowly started to circle about her while she turned to keep facing him. They dance methodically at first, each step measured and relaxed. However, the Faun began to play faster and faster, in turn causing the dance to become more chaotic and unpredictable. All Moanna could do was gaze into those haunting eyes as the music penetrated into her soul, taking over every inch of her. Round and round, the outside world becoming a blur, only the two left existing, finally merging into one with one final shrill trill and then—

Silence.

The stillness crushed them both to lie on the flowery bed, heads spinning and panting from exhaustion. The Faun gazed heavily into Moanna's midnight eyes, drinking in the contents of her being. If only she knew…

… If only she knew how much he burned for her.


	2. Chapter 2

[Dear Reader, sorry for not being acknowledged in the first chapter... I experienced quite a pang of guilt upon realizing this... a rather small pang, yes, but I did indeed feel guilt... Please feel free to review/comment/criticize... All is much appreciated.]

_Pan_

Years had flown like autumn leaves in the wind. Every time Pan saw Moanna since her return to the Underworld, beauty was exploding from the awkward dirty layers of childhood. Her dark hair grew quickly and grew long down her slender back. She also grew in height, so much she was almost eye level with the faun, and in the place of boney elbows and knobby knees was now the shapely body of a woman.

Each day, the Faun fell deeper and deeper into her black eyes, living on the breath mingled with the scent of her hair, mesmerized by her melodic laugh.

The eternal lazy afternoons were enough to make him the happiest of all the worlds in existence... yet... it was never enough.

Every day seemed so sweet yet bitterly short, always fading like candle smoke. And at the close, the final heartbeats of the golden light, he would have to let her go.

The stifling night that followed was torture, filled with endless pacing and frantic frustration.

He did not know what to do.

A matter of acceptance from the faerie court was not the issue. He had served the kingdom since its beginning, and had been both advisor and friend to rulers for generations. Moanna's father in particular was rather fond of him, especially after the safe return of his most beloved daughter. Just recently he had even taken Pan aside and insisted that he ask for anything, anything at all, to be granted him as a reward, all the while glancing hopefully toward his smiling daughter. The King had long since wanted Pan to be given the recognition he deserved. If it were not for his wisdom and courage, the Kingdom would have been lost many times over, earning the faun much respect in the kind ruler's eyes. An alliance between him and the royal line through the princess would not only guarantee a wise ruler after the King's departure into the Spirit World, but also a link to other fae creatures that had always seemed cut off from the Faerie Court.

Pan had wanted more than anything to ask for Moanna's hand, but a cold fear seized his tongue. Graciously, he bowed out of accepting a gift of any kind, saying _how much of an honor humbly serving the Court was_. Not wishing to strike a blow against his dignity in further pushing the matter, the King just nodded his head solemnly and walked away.

No, it was not a question of _their _acceptance, but of her's. Faun's were viewed as either the most cunning of advisors (Pan especially so) or the most exhilarating and creative of entertainers (in his own opinion, even more especially so), but as lover? Or even a _husband_, and even more frightening, _A KING_? He could just imagine the Kingdom's shock of having someone so different rule over them. Being an advisor was one thing, being King was a foreign matter all entirely.

The tormented Faun punished himself because of his cowardice for nights upon end. Violent with rage, he had taken up yelling and cursing his faults, venting his frustrations on anything within his grasp. His faerie friends, sensing their faun's wrath, had decided to sleep outside in the rose bushes instead of in their own beds inside the Faun's cavern.

It was on one of these long and grueling nights that Pan received quite an unexpected visitor. It was the last person he would have ever dreamed would appear at his door during the dead of night, and in fact it was a dream that had brought them.

"Pan?" Moanna gingerly stepped into the open cavern. "Pan, I had a horrible dream. I think my brother might be in danger."


	3. Chapter 3

_Vidal_

The smacking of bare feet hit hard against the cold terra cotta tiles. A young boy with a dirty face and curly black hair came running into the kitchen, his wild dark eyes looking for a decent place to hide. The shouts a vengeful mob could be heard outside in the street. His eyes scanned the room. Rusty pots and pans were precariously stacked on the countertops. Rat droppings littered the floor. This house was obviously another monument to the war, left to rot until it collapsed upon itself. However, for the meantime, it was a place to hide.

The shouts were growing louder by the second. Before he could think, he found himself scurrying into a nearby cupboard. He held his breath as he plunged into the cob-webbed shadows.

Suddenly the charred door splintered apart.  
"MARCO! Where are you?"  
"Si Marco, hahaha!"  
"Ven aquí niño bonito, no te haré daño!"  
"Yeah, come here _pretty boy_…"

The boys swarmed in like a pack of wolves. They immediately began to tear the ruined kitchen apart, throwing the towering pots and pans crashing against flimsy walls and dirty tiles all the while howling the name, _MARCO… MARCO!_

A gunshot exploded into the air. The world went deaf.  
The wolves were frozen to the floor.

Heavy combat boots crunched the blackened door's splintered remains, snapping them like ancient bones.

Inside the cupboard, Marco had forgotten how to breathe. Spiders, their homes destroyed, crawled onto the boy, exploring a future nesting place, most getting stuck in the heavy sweat that drenched his body. He couldn't think. His mind had gone blank all except for the one remaining fact, that he was as good as dead.

The boots had come to a stop near the center of the room, his eager pack awaiting the _kill_. The clink of a cold steel knife flicked open and closed as the predator sniffed the air for his prey.

Suddenly, the knife flew like lightening, hitting the nearest cupboard door.

"THERE!"

The bloodthirsty boys tore it apart.

"Look, Karlos, a rat!"  
" Por él! NOW! GET HIM!"  
"Haha, look at him squirm!"

They tore at his clothes and limbs until he was pinned down on the counter. Silently, the pack leader crept closer. His razor sharp gaze cut deep into Marco's eyes.

"Do you know why we chased you down?"

Marco didn't answer, he couldn't. He was terrified.

The razor gaze came closer. The glinting knife poked around the small boy's soiled clothing, finally uncovering a chain and then a broken pocket watch.

"_This_ is mine. And now, so is this!" An iron fist grabbed Marco's hand. He started to shriek uncontrollably.

A few seconds later, the shrieking had stopped and Marco lay unconscious in his own blood.

With his watch restored to its previous home, the pack leader looked long and hard at its cracked surface. He didn't know if it had any significant meaning to the time it had stopped, he only knew that it had once belonged to someone great. It was someone that everyone had tried to hide from him.

It had belonged to his father.


End file.
